Team USA was eliminated from the 2026 IIHF World Championship by Canada on Thursday.
Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Jet Greaves led the Canadians to victory, stopping all 34 shots he faced from the Americans in a 4-0 shutout. Canada got goals from Macklin Celebrini, Dylan Holloway, Connor Brown, and Sidney Crosby in the victory, advancing to the semifinals.
The most notable plays from the game, though, weren’t the tallies. Months after winning gold at the Olympics, Florida Panthers captain Matthew Tkachuk went viral in a humbling way after being chided by an official during the game for diving.
“Matt, Matt! No!” the official can be heard saying on the referee cam. “You’re better than this, you’re better than this!”
Tkachuck was tied up with Canadian defenseman Zach Whitecloud before falling over like a sack of bricks. While he escaped being penalized on the play — embellishment is a penalty in the IIHF rulebook — the video posted by Bruins reporter Evan Marinofsky went viral on social media.
The other important moment came 6:45 into the first period when Seattle Kraken defenseman Ryan Lindgren, a member of Team USA, was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct — an ejection worth 20 minutes in the rulebook — for an illegal check to the head of Canada’s Evan Bouchard, an Edmonton Oilers rearguard.
Bouchard, who was clearly woozy after the illegal hit, did not return to game action.
Canada will now go on to play Finland in the semifinals, while Switzerland will match up with Norway.
